Great Barrier Reef in danger

It seems that our massive reef systems are always in danger from something. Years ago the Great Barrier Reef off of the north coast of Australia was in danger from local pollution, then it was from ……heaven forbid, tourists. Now it seems there is yet another threat. This time it is from Mega Ports. Yes, those huge shipping ports for super sized tankers and container ships.

It seems that the Australian government and the state of Queensland have plans (in the draft stage at the time of writing this post) of rezoning the entire coast line in that area as industrial so a mega port could be developed.

Here is what I don't understand. Mega ships of that size require deep channels to navigate into port. The areas around the reef is shallow. So are they planning on dredging a channel through the reef? How are they planning to develop the ports? I also fail to see why there would be a demand for that size of a port so far away from the major population areas of the country. It just does not make sense.